U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,807, Suzuki et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes an apparatus for automatically mounting, and dismounting or disassembling, printing plates in a rotary printing machine. The apparatus includes a storage magazine for plates, apparatus to remove plates from the printing machine, and placing it in advance of a printing station. A roboter arm carried in a parallelogram guide system and a mechanical hand secured thereto can grasp a printing plate removed from the storage section when the arm is in a backward direction, and applying it on a cylinder when the arm is in a forward direction. The apparatus is secured to a support attached to the floor, or to a printing machine frame. It is not rotatable, and thus can service only a single printing station. The space taken up by the arrangement permits placement of the apparatus only in small rotary printing machines, and especially those which have only a single printing assembly or printing station.
The Japanese Patent 60-73850, by the same inventors as those of the U.S. patent and assigned to the same assignee, describes a system which can be placed on rails secured to the floor or attached to the frame of a printing machine station to attach or disassemble printing plates in rotary printing machines. The mechanical hand is again secured to an arm extending in horizontal direction. The mechanical hand is longitudinally movable and can be adjusted vertically along a vertical spindle. The mechanical hand is rotatable about the axis of the spindle. This arrangement permits selective operation for placing or disassembling printing plates from printing machines of two adjacently located printing stations. The horizontal movability of the system requires, however, a good deal of space.